Bourbon Street Grille
6308 Metropolitan Lane, Monona 222-4410
www.bourbonstreetgrille.com
Mon-Fri 11AM to close, Sat & Sun 8am to close
Dinner entrees $10-$20. Parking, Wheelchair access.
Smoking and nonsmoking sections. Major credit cards accepted.

Food & Drink
On the waterfront
Bourbon Street Grille has New Orleans food with a view
By Jerry Minnich

Ah, summertime in Madison. Those hazy, lazy days that fairly beg for dining alfresco. The Memorial Union Terrace. The Great Dane Brew Pub garden. Paisan’s. A State Street bistro.

And the Bourbon Street Grille?

Yes, the east side can eat outdoors, too. And rather well, now that Bourbon Street has at last turned the site of a veritable restaurant black hole into an attractive riverside retreat.

Longtime Madisonians may recall the Four Lakes Yacht Club, which began it’s decent into seediness in 1989. That’s when it became Alexander’s and was opened to the public, and the carpeting began to get soggy. The downward spiral continued when restaurateur and sports legend Jingles O’Brein created “Jingles on the River” in 1990. And things got no better in 1994, when it became the Muskie Lounge.

But put all those bad memories behind you. This is a new decade, a new millennium, and a new ownership. Bourbon Street Grille has, at long last, created a restaurant that is worthy of its scenic location.

And quite a scene it is, too, with a broad deck overlooking the Yahara River as it flows gently from Squaw Bay into Upper Mud Lake, carrying no-wake pleasure boats between Lake Monona and Lake Waubesa. We watched, while drinking a cold gin and tonic, as a family of Canada geese, with 12 goslings, nimbly circumvented a pontoon boat. We waved to yacht owners in blue blazers and topsiders.

The previous incarnations of this restaurant drew a clientele that, if you’ll pardon the image, tended to wear greasy muscle shirts and reek of walleye guts. Now, as you approach the dining room, you are greeted by an attractive smiling hostess at a reservation lectern, not that you will need a reservation on most nights. There are two expansive dining rooms and a large bar area, and the outdoor deck seats nearly a hundred. This is a restaurant that’s waiting to be discovered.

The menu (which is presented in its entirety on the restaurant’s Web site) offers steaks, ribs and chops, an impressive selection of fresh fish and seafood, and several chicken dishes. There are 15 appetizers, a bunch of burgers, sandwiches and wraps, soups and salads, and five desserts. Many of the items have a New Orleans flair: blackened catfish and snapper, Cajun shrimp, jambalaya, and a New Orleans Burger.

With a menu so broad, things are bound to be hit or miss. On four recent visits, I have learned to make at least a few distinctions. Among appetizers for instance, forget the Bayou Trio, which presented nicely on a three-tired platter, contains Cajun Shrimp, calamari and crab puffs. The first two are heavily breaded and tasteless, and, frankly I have never had a good crab puff in my life. Fortunately, we were on the deck at sunset and greatly enjoying that gin and tonic.

Things got much better when we dug into the entrees. Blackened red snapper, drizzled with a Creole butter sauce, was tenderly sautéed, nicely spiced and fully flavorful. Another companion’s jambalaya, well stocked with andouille sausage, chicken and shrimp, was also spiced with spirit, but in a watery sauce. I ordered blackened catfish, and was rewarded with one of the best representations of the genre I have ever had – a thick filet, plump and tender, black on the outside and snow-white on the inside, with just enough cayenne to make things interesting.
My third companion, noticing an all-you-can-eat special on snow crabs ($19.94 vs. $13.95 for a single serving), went for it in a big way. The snow crabs were no better or worse than any other snow crabs, but it was the great biomass-for-the-buck special that made this dish a winner.

On luncheon visits I have had seafood gumbo (with no discernable hint of seafood but plenty of okra, making it too mucilaginous (moist, sticky) even for me), a blackened tuna filet salad (a winner, with a slab of tender tuna over fresh, chilled mixed greens, portabella mushrooms, black olives, grated cheddar, scallions, red onions, tomato, cucumber and banana peppers) and the sandwich of all sandwiches – the Grilled Club stacker, which managed to squeeze smoked turkey, ham, bacon, lettuce, tomato, cheddar and Monterey jack cheese all between pieces of thick Texas toast. Served with really good french fries, and for only $6.95, this was an outstanding value. I don’t think I have ever taken home half a sandwich in a box before. Reheated in my George Foreman Mean Grilling Machine, it served a dinner the next night.

Breakfast is served on Saturday and Sunday mornings, and there is live entertainment on Thursday nights on the rooftop garden. Go. Relax. Watch a duck.